Note 159 — PREFACE

{337}[This is not correct. The Young Lady's Tale, or the Two Emilys and The Clergyman's Tale, or Pembroke, were contributed by Sophia Lee. Kruitzner, or The Germans Tale, was written by Harriet Lee (1757-1851), the younger of the sisters. Miss Lee began her literary career as a dramatist. A comedy, The New Peerage; or, Our Eyes may deceive us, was played at Drury Lane, November 10, 1787. In 1798 she published The Mysterious Marriage; or, The Heirship of Rosalva. After the publication of Byron's Werner, she wrote a dramatic version of The German's Tale, under the title of The Three Strangers. It was brought out at Covent Garden, December 10, 1825, and acted four times.

The first volume of the Canterbury Tales, by Harriet Lee, was published in 1797; the second volume, by Sophia Lee, in 1798 (a second edition of these volumes was published in 1799); a third volume (second edition), by Sophia and Harriet Lee, appeared in 1800; the fourth volume, by Harriet Lee (which contains The German's Tale, pp. 3-368) was published in 1801; and the fifth volume, by Harriet Lee, in 1805.

There can be little doubt that Byron's visit to Churchill's grave at Dover, which took place April 25, 1816 (see Poetical Works, 1901, iv. 45), was suggested by a passage in the Introduction, pp. vii.-ix., to the first volume (1797) of the Canterbury Tales. The author "wanders forth to note the memorabilia of Dover," is informed that "the greatest curiosity in the place is the tomb of a poet," and hastens "to a spot surrounded by ruined walls, in the midst of which stood the white marble tablet marked with Churchill's name," etc.]